The showrunner of CBS's spinoff series titled FBI: International, which premiered in 2021.
One of the lead characters of FBI is Peregrym's Special Agent Maggie Bell, who just found herself in a spot of trouble. Season 4, episode 18, "Fear Nothing," which just aired on April 19, saw her and OA Zidan tracking down terrorist Hakeen Abbas. She managed to take down Abbas, but not before he could release deadly sarin gas, triggering the emergency doors, which sealed her into the room. She was rescued after some difficulty and hospitalized. While doctors reassured OA that she is on the road to a full recovery, it will most likely be a long and difficult one.
FBI showrunner Rick Eid sat down with TVLine to discuss the shocking developments for Missy's character and reassure fans that she will be back. However, she will not be appearing in the remaining four episodes of the season. The reason for this is that Peregrym is now on maternity leave, necessitating that her character be sidelined for a substantial chunk of time. Eid says that they have every intention of bringing Maggie back, though the events of this episode may leave physical and emotional scars that "may affect how she sees the world and how she handles cases." Read the full quote below:
The reality is that [Maggie’s recovery] is a journey, it’s going to be a while. When she does come back, whenever that is, she’ll probably for the most part be the same ol’ Maggie, but she did go through something pretty traumatic. There are not only physical injuries but maybe some emotional ones, and that may affect how she sees the world and how she handles cases.
This kind of plot development designed to accommodate an actor on maternity leave is relatively common on television. One notable example is season 4, which wrote in Alyson Hannigan's maternity leave by having her character Lily be so offended by a joke her friend Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) made that she refuses to hang out with the gang for several weeks. However, one wrinkle is the fact that FBI has not been officially renewed for season 5, so if they get canceled, Maggie will not be present for the series finale.
It would certainly be disappointing for FBI fans to be left in the lurch with the character should the show not come back. The show isn't necessarily in peril, however. Typically, CBS has announced season renewals for this particular series sometime between March and May, so there is still time for them to renew within their expected window.
Source: TVLine